Initial goals: The goal is to get students to include more figurative language in their writing; to get them excited about describing scenes, characters, information, and more; to improve overall reading comprehension by helping students have a mental picture of what they are reading.
Initial objectives:
AASL Reading Standard:
4.1.1 Read, view, and listen for pleasure and for personal growth.
American Association of School Librarians Standard 2: Draw conclusions, make informed decisions, apply knowledge to new situations, and create new knowledge. 2.1 Skills: 2.1.6 Use the writing process, media and visual literacy, and technology skills to create products that express new understandings. 2.2 Dispositions in Action: 2.2.4 Demonstrate personal productivity by completing products to express learning 2.3 Responsibilities: 2.3.1 Connect understanding to the real world.
Standard 3: Share knowledge and participate ethically and productively as members of our democratic society. Self-Assessment Strategies: 3.4.2 Assess the quality and effectiveness of the learning product.
Standard 4: Pursue personal and aesthetic growth. 4.1 Skills: 4.1.6 Organize personal knowledge in a way that can be called upon easily.
TEKS Reading and Language Arts 4.10 Reading/comprehension.The student comprehends selections using a variety of strategies. The student is expected to: (A) use his/her own knowledge and experience to comprehend (D) describe mental images that text descriptions evoke - Brava! using sensory images (G) paraphrase and summarize text to recall, inform, and organize ideas (4-8); Writing 4.15 Writing/purposes. The student writes for a variety of audiences and purposes, and in a variety of forms. The student is expected to: (E) exhibit an identifiable voice in personal narratives and in stories (4-5); and (F) choose the appropriate form for his/her own purpose for writing, including journals, letters, reviews, poems, narratives, and instructions (4-5). Art 4.1 Perception. The student develops and organizes ideas from the environment. The student is expected to: (A) communicate ideas about self, family, school, and community, using sensory knowledge and life experiences;
Ms. Wallace, a teacher-librarian, overheard Mrs. Pantoja, a 4th grade teacher, talking with some colleagues over lunch one day. Mrs. Pantoja was struggling with getting her students to write with more imagination. She felt that their writing was bland and did not usually contain enough description. Ms. Wallace waited for Mrs. Pantoja to leave the lunchroom and approached her in the hallway. Ms. Wallace had some ideas of ways she could help Mrs. Pantoja's students use sensory images to enliven their writing and to learn to use their imaginations more, in both reading and writing. She told Mrs. Pantoja that she had overheard her conversation and had some ideas. She asked Mrs. Pantoja if it would be okay for her to stop by her room after school and talk with her about the ideas. Mrs. Pantoja, feeling as if she were at the end of her rope with writing skills, was completely open to any and all suggestions. She welcomed Ms. Wallace to share with her any ideas that she felt might help.
That afternoon, Mrs. Pantoja and Ms. Wallace met in Mrs. Pantoja's classroom and talked for almost an hour about a sensory images collaborative lesson. The more they talked, the more excited they became, and the more they could see the possibilities. Ms. Wallace's strengths were her knowledge of the available resources, specifically those that would provide an opportunity to imagine and those that would contain figurative language and imagery. Mrs. Pantoja's strengths were her knowledge of the students and their specific strengths and weaknesses, as well as her knowledge of their previous skill levels in writing.
The two collaborators met twice more to continue planning before implementing the lesson plan. It was so successful that they developed a unit based on the original lesson to continue to reinforce and exercise the skills the students had gained. After the first lesson succeeded, Ms. Wallace sent an email to the principal that provided a brief outline of what had taken place. She attached a couple of photos of the students engaged in the activities, as well as a copy of the collaborative lesson plan. When the two collaborators were ready to implement the second lesson, Ms. Wallace invited the principal to stop by and see for himself how well the collaboration was working.
Brava. This is a plausible if scenario. The librarian kept her ears open for an opportunity to propose coteaching and she met the teacher in the classroom to make it most convenient. This librarian has done her homework and is actively educating faculty and administrators about the potential of classroom-library collaboration. In many school environments, as in your scenario, it will be up to the librarian to make the first move.
Phone Schedule and Planning Form for 4.2
Date
Collaboration Type
Strategies Discussed and Finished
11-15-10
Phone
Reading Comprehension Strategy
Reading Development Level
Instructional Strategies
Lesson Length
Purpose
Objectives
11-18-10
Phone
Resources, Materials, and Equipment
Children’s Literature Websites Graphic Organizers Materials Equipment
Collaboration
Assessment
11-22-10
Phone
Standards
Reading and/or writing Listening and speaking Other content areas Information literacy Educational technology
11-29-10
Phone
Implementation
Process Motivation
Student-friendly Objectives Presentation Student Participation Procedures or Student Practice Procedures Guided Practice Closure Reflection
12-1-10
Phone
Extensions
12-3-10
Phone
Review Work.
12-5-10
Phone
Final changes and completion.
This is a workable schedule. Remember to document your phone conversations in some way on your wiki pages discussion tabs. Remember: You will be asking the class for feedback on your lesson in O.D.4.1. You may want to be open to the possibility of revision at that time.
Collaborative Planning Template-Sample 1
Teacher/Topic: Mrs. Pantoja – 4th grade writing with figurative language
Librarian: Ms. Wallace
Dates/Times: 12/9/2010 9:00-9:55 and 12/10/2010 9:00-9:55
Content Standards and Information Literacy Instructional Strategies Performance Objectives
American Association of School Librarians American Association of School Librarians Standard 2: Draw conclusions, make informed decisions, apply knowledge to new situations, and create new knowledge. 2.1 Skills: 2.1.6 Use the writing process, media and visual literacy, and technology skills to create products that express new understandings. 2.2 Dispositions in Action: 2.2.4 Demonstrate personal productivity by completing products to express learning 2.3 Responsibilities: 2.3.1 Connect understanding to the real world.
Standard 3: Share knowledge and participate ethically and productively as members of our democratic society. Self-Assessment Strategies: 3.4.2 Assess the quality and effectiveness of the learning product.
Standard 4: Pursue personal and aesthetic growth. 4.1 Skills: 4.1.6 Organize personal knowledge in a way that can be called upon easily.
What about: Read, view, and listen for pleasure and for personal growth. (4.1.1)?
TEKS Reading and Language Arts 4.10 Reading/comprehension.The student comprehends selections using a variety of strategies. The student is expected to: (A) use his/her own knowledge and experience to comprehend (D) describe mental images that text descriptions evoke (G) paraphrase and summarize text to recall, inform, and organize ideas (4-8); Writing 4.15 Writing/purposes. The student writes for a variety of audiences and purposes, and in a variety of forms. The student is expected to: (E) exhibit an identifiable voice in personal narratives and in stories (4-5); and (F) choose the appropriate form for his/her own purpose for writing, including journals, letters, reviews, poems, narratives, and instructions (4-5). Art 4.1 Perception. The student develops and organizes ideas from the environment. The student is expected to: (A) communicate ideas about self, family, school, and community, using sensory knowledge and life experiences;
Prior Knowledge: Students are already familiar with the writing process. They have written several essays already on varying topics and in varying genres. For this lesson, they will be writing a fictional narrative.
Relevance to students' lives:Students will care about learning more about figurative language and imagery in their own writing because the motivational activities will interest them in using these literary devices. Once they hear/see some examples of figurative language and are involved in imagining what these examples illustrate, and once they have discussed all the varying life experiences they have had with these sounds, tastes, smells, sights, and feelings they will want to paint these verbal pictures for their own readers. The key to engaging students in this lesson is to make it fun for them to visualize what they are hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting, etc. An example of this could be a carnival or fair: What do they smell? What do they hear? What do they taste? What do they see? Does anything smell bad? Can anyone share a time when you experienced something like this? Choose one taste/smell/sight/sound and share it with your group.
Only the classroom teacher will grade the final narrative pieces, right? See comment below about extension.
Checking the work once it is completed is part of the student's responsibility when doing any kind of schoolwork. During this lesson the students will each have a rubric that they can check their partner's work with. The form that they will use is:
This is a clear way to present this information. Brava!
During Planning
Ms. Wallace
Mrs. Pantoja
Finding and introducing new resources for student research.
Specific learning goals or outcomes.
Finding samples of literature with strong examples of imagery or figurative language.
Preparing graphic organizers and rubrics.
Preparing images, sounds, and any other special effects.
Reviewing writing process with students before the lesson.
During Implementation
Ms. Wallace
Mrs. Pantoja
Model visualization techniques
Read aloud a short story that illustrates imagery
Show or play examples of sounds and images.
Model discussing how these sounds and images remind her of prior experiences
Conduct student conferences about their writing.
Conduct student conferences about their writing.
Provide support and guidance for the students.
Provide support and guidance for the students.
During Assessment
Ms. Wallace
Mrs. Pantoja
Informal assessment of student writing during conferencing with students
Informal assessment of student writing during conferencing with students
Review student self-assessment rubrics
Review student self-assessment rubrics
Scoring of narrative essays
Lesson Evaluation/Comments: We are hoping that this lesson will be successful in teaching the children how to write personal narratives. The children should be excited when they hear and see all of the sounds and videos that are used to hook them into the lesson. I am also looking forward to using the partner assessment rubric.
Resources and Materials: Literature with sensory images: Night in the Country by Cynthia Rylant Into the Sea by Brenda Z. Guiberson The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant When Lightening Comes in a Jar by Patricia Polacco recordings of sounds images graphic organizers rubrics
Use of technology: Projection system for showing images and playing sounds, showing graphic organizer example, and introducing the rubric.
What about students' use of technology? Could you develop an additional product using Web 2.0 tools which, because of their multimedia capabilities, are perfect for a sensory images lesson? And the librarian should take responsibility for assessing this work...?
Note: The goals of the lesson are MORE than the standards, which provide the objectives. The goals are the purpose of the learning engagement. Why should students interact with this content, this learning process, or these tools? Why should the library be involved?
Note: The goals of the lesson are MORE than the standards, which provide the objectives. The goals are the purpose of the learning engagement. Why should students interact with this content, this learning process, or these tools? Why should the library be involved?
Dr. M.
Scenario:
Collaborators: Mrs. Pantoja and Ms. Wallace
Grade level: 4th grade
Content area: Writing
Initial goals: The goal is to get students to include more figurative language in their writing; to get them excited about describing scenes, characters, information, and more; to improve overall reading comprehension by helping students have a mental picture of what they are reading.
Initial objectives:
AASL Reading Standard:
4.1.1 Read, view, and listen for pleasure and for personal growth.American Association of School Librarians
Standard 2: Draw conclusions, make informed decisions, apply knowledge to new situations, and create new knowledge.
2.1 Skills:
2.1.6 Use the writing process, media and visual literacy, and technology skills to create products that express new understandings.
2.2 Dispositions in Action:
2.2.4 Demonstrate personal productivity by completing products to express learning
2.3 Responsibilities:
2.3.1 Connect understanding to the real world.
Standard 3: Share knowledge and participate ethically and productively as members of our democratic society.
Self-Assessment Strategies:
3.4.2 Assess the quality and effectiveness of the learning product.
Standard 4: Pursue personal and aesthetic growth.
4.1 Skills:
4.1.6 Organize personal knowledge in a way that can be called upon easily.
TEKS
Reading and Language Arts 4.10 Reading/comprehension.The student comprehends selections using a variety of strategies. The student is expected to:
(A) use his/her own knowledge and experience to comprehend
(D) describe mental images that text descriptions evoke - Brava! using sensory images
(G) paraphrase and summarize text to recall, inform, and organize ideas (4-8);
Writing 4.15 Writing/purposes. The student writes for a variety of audiences and purposes, and in a variety of forms. The student is expected to:
(E) exhibit an identifiable voice in personal narratives and in stories (4-5); and
(F) choose the appropriate form for his/her own purpose for writing, including journals, letters, reviews, poems, narratives, and instructions (4-5).
Art 4.1 Perception. The student develops and organizes ideas from the environment. The student is expected to:
(A) communicate ideas about self, family, school, and community, using sensory knowledge and life experiences;
Ms. Wallace, a teacher-librarian, overheard Mrs. Pantoja, a 4th grade teacher, talking with some colleagues over lunch one day. Mrs. Pantoja was struggling with getting her students to write with more imagination. She felt that their writing was bland and did not usually contain enough description. Ms. Wallace waited for Mrs. Pantoja to leave the lunchroom and approached her in the hallway. Ms. Wallace had some ideas of ways she could help Mrs. Pantoja's students use sensory images to enliven their writing and to learn to use their imaginations more, in both reading and writing. She told Mrs. Pantoja that she had overheard her conversation and had some ideas. She asked Mrs. Pantoja if it would be okay for her to stop by her room after school and talk with her about the ideas. Mrs. Pantoja, feeling as if she were at the end of her rope with writing skills, was completely open to any and all suggestions. She welcomed Ms. Wallace to share with her any ideas that she felt might help.
That afternoon, Mrs. Pantoja and Ms. Wallace met in Mrs. Pantoja's classroom and talked for almost an hour about a sensory images collaborative lesson. The more they talked, the more excited they became, and the more they could see the possibilities. Ms. Wallace's strengths were her knowledge of the available resources, specifically those that would provide an opportunity to imagine and those that would contain figurative language and imagery. Mrs. Pantoja's strengths were her knowledge of the students and their specific strengths and weaknesses, as well as her knowledge of their previous skill levels in writing.
The two collaborators met twice more to continue planning before implementing the lesson plan. It was so successful that they developed a unit based on the original lesson to continue to reinforce and exercise the skills the students had gained. After the first lesson succeeded, Ms. Wallace sent an email to the principal that provided a brief outline of what had taken place. She attached a couple of photos of the students engaged in the activities, as well as a copy of the collaborative lesson plan. When the two collaborators were ready to implement the second lesson, Ms. Wallace invited the principal to stop by and see for himself how well the collaboration was working.
Brava. This is a plausible if scenario. The librarian kept her ears open for an opportunity to propose coteaching and she met the teacher in the classroom to make it most convenient. This librarian has done her homework and is actively educating faculty and administrators about the potential of classroom-library collaboration. In many school environments, as in your scenario, it will be up to the librarian to make the first move.
Phone Schedule and Planning Form for 4.2
- Resources, Materials, and Equipment
Children’s LiteratureWebsites
Graphic Organizers
Materials
Equipment
- Standards
Reading and/or writingListening and speaking
Other content areas
Information literacy
Educational technology
- Process Motivation
Student-friendly ObjectivesPresentation
Student Participation Procedures
or
Student Practice Procedures
Guided Practice
Closure
Reflection
Collaborative Planning Template-Sample 1
Teacher/Topic: Mrs. Pantoja – 4th grade writing with figurative language
Librarian: Ms. Wallace
Dates/Times: 12/9/2010 9:00-9:55 and 12/10/2010 9:00-9:55
Content Standards and Information Literacy Instructional Strategies Performance Objectives
American Association of School Librarians
American Association of School Librarians
Standard 2: Draw conclusions, make informed decisions, apply knowledge to new situations, and create new knowledge.
2.1 Skills:
2.1.6 Use the writing process, media and visual literacy, and technology skills to create products that express new understandings.
2.2 Dispositions in Action:
2.2.4 Demonstrate personal productivity by completing products to express learning
2.3 Responsibilities:
2.3.1 Connect understanding to the real world.
Standard 3: Share knowledge and participate ethically and productively as members of our democratic society.
Self-Assessment Strategies:
3.4.2 Assess the quality and effectiveness of the learning product.
Standard 4: Pursue personal and aesthetic growth.
4.1 Skills:
4.1.6 Organize personal knowledge in a way that can be called upon easily.
What about: Read, view, and listen for pleasure and for personal growth. (4.1.1)?
TEKS
Reading and Language Arts 4.10 Reading/comprehension.The student comprehends selections using a variety of strategies. The student is expected to:
(A) use his/her own knowledge and experience to comprehend
(D) describe mental images that text descriptions evoke
(G) paraphrase and summarize text to recall, inform, and organize ideas (4-8);
Writing 4.15 Writing/purposes. The student writes for a variety of audiences and purposes, and in a variety of forms. The student is expected to:
(E) exhibit an identifiable voice in personal narratives and in stories (4-5); and
(F) choose the appropriate form for his/her own purpose for writing, including journals, letters, reviews, poems, narratives, and instructions (4-5).
Art 4.1 Perception. The student develops and organizes ideas from the environment. The student is expected to:
(A) communicate ideas about self, family, school, and community, using sensory knowledge and life experiences;
Prior Knowledge: Students are already familiar with the writing process. They have written several essays already on varying topics and in varying genres. For this lesson, they will be writing a fictional narrative.
Relevance to students' lives: Students will care about learning more about figurative language and imagery in their own writing because the motivational activities will interest them in using these literary devices. Once they hear/see some examples of figurative language and are involved in imagining what these examples illustrate, and once they have discussed all the varying life experiences they have had with these sounds, tastes, smells, sights, and feelings they will want to paint these verbal pictures for their own readers. The key to engaging students in this lesson is to make it fun for them to visualize what they are hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting, etc. An example of this could be a carnival or fair: What do they smell? What do they hear? What do they taste? What do they see? Does anything smell bad? Can anyone share a time when you experienced something like this? Choose one taste/smell/sight/sound and share it with your group.
Graphic Organizer: Attached: Assessment Tool(s):
Student Self-Assessment Checklist:
Educator Rubric:
Checking the work once it is completed is part of the student's responsibility when doing any kind of schoolwork. During this lesson the students will each have a rubric that they can check their partner's work with. The form that they will use is:
Learning Tasks: Educator Responsible:
This is a clear way to present this information. Brava!
Lesson Evaluation/Comments: We are hoping that this lesson will be successful in teaching the children how to write personal narratives.
The children should be excited when they hear and see all of the sounds and videos that are used to hook them into the lesson. I am also looking forward to using the partner assessment rubric.
Resources and Materials:
Literature with sensory images:
Night in the Country by Cynthia Rylant
Into the Sea by Brenda Z. Guiberson
The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant
When Lightening Comes in a Jar by Patricia Polacco
recordings of sounds
images
graphic organizers
rubrics
Use of technology:
Projection system for showing images and playing sounds, showing graphic organizer example, and introducing the rubric.
What about students' use of technology? Could you develop an additional product using Web 2.0 tools which, because of their multimedia capabilities, are perfect for a sensory images lesson? And the librarian should take responsibility for assessing this work...?
Note: The goals of the lesson are MORE than the standards, which provide the objectives. The goals are the purpose of the learning engagement. Why should students interact with this content, this learning process, or these tools? Why should the library be involved?
Note: The goals of the lesson are MORE than the standards, which provide the objectives. The goals are the purpose of the learning engagement. Why should students interact with this content, this learning process, or these tools? Why should the library be involved?